Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-03-31
A Portland Girl
TELLS HER EXPERIENCE IN THE RECENT
EARTHQUAKE IN SOUTHERN FRANCE.

wonder if YOU have noticed the accoun
of the earthquake in Southern France anG
Italy and thought of the writer in connection
therewith-well have had that experience
and pray / may never have the chance of re-
peating it..
1t had been the week of the carnival, anc
the whole city was running wild, aided by
thousands of visitors, and it's revealing cul
minated in mask ball, which l attended
We came in at 2 o'clock A. NJ, and being
tired fell into a heavy sleep.
About o'clock was awakened by terri
bic shaking, and sprang out of bed half be
wIldered, ard clu,chad at the doors to steady
myself. The trembling died away and
sank into chair half afraid. and half not,
but had not time to decide which, before
the shaking was renewed with redoubled
force.
never shall forget the horrible sensation
| experienced in being hurled against the
bed, the room swaying back and forth. the
walls crat king, the windows rafting, and
10 terror, every minute expecting the walls
to fall.
threw on a wrapper and rushed into the
parlors, where found my friends, who were
frantic for the safety of other friends, lodged
in another part of the hotel, whom they
sought, leaving me alone. | employed the
calm in dressing
Scarcely had they left when another shock
came, but lighter, and l rushed into the hall
to find people rushing from all directions,
some in their night clothes, some half dressed,
some with blankets thrown around them, pale,
terrified. shrieking, weeping, and all rushing
into the street. reached my friends by the
time the trembling ceased, and was settled
down in the court to await-the next. After
tho 6rot somewhat sn sided all
took cup of coffee, and made some additions
to our toilet in the way of combing our hair
but another shock at O'Clock sent us
quivering into the street. Such scene as
that "Place de Messina" presented.
Thousands of people were there from the
Count somebody to the no-account somebody,
also the wealthy nobody to the poor beggar-
but someway all distinctions were levelled in
the common terror.
1t was ptitui to see the poor people who
had evidently seized the most cared-for thing;
some had bird-cage, another parrot,
another an ugly dog or an ugier cat, while
many poor frantic mother pressed her baby
to her breast with scarcely any clothing to
protect 1t from the chilly morning air.
The shocks were repeated during the day
at intervals, but with less force, 40 there was
a comparative calm toward night, although
thousands lett the city Tor farlS ana the nOrtn
That night those who remained at our hotel
had lounges and cots and chairs in the rotun-
da and in the dining rooms opening from it,
and slept there. About 2 o'clock another
shock aroused US, and the panic of the day
before was passed through again, but with
greater force. Can you imagine what it must
be 70 a people who were already worn, tired
and excited, to be aroused from troubled
sleep by shrieks and cries, mingled with rat
Ting of glass and a stampede that made it
seem as if the very earth itself was slipping
from under our feet | want it strictly un.
dersood that during the hubbub | never
screamed once and only gave out one "oh,
DEAR" and that low to myself in the first mo-
ment when the terrible truth that it was an
earthquake, forced itself upon my mind, but
| am willing to confess that if had remained
in Nice another day must have been crazy.
Even now, when am in lovely Paris, when
| am half asleep, heavy carriage rolling by
in the street will bring me up in bed with my
my heart beating enough to sufocate me aud
cold perspiration starting from every pore.
Two or three invslds died from the fright
and few from falling timbers.
HELEN M. S.